Anthony Foyle
Anthony "Tony" Foyle, the Viscount Gillingham, also known as Lord Gillingham, is an old Crawley family friend who became a romantic love interest in Lady Mary Crawley, having re-entered her life following her husband Matthew Crawley's untimely death. He inherited the title "Viscount Gillingham" between June 1st, 1916, and April 1922.In Episode 4.07, Charles Blake indirectly says that Tony wasn't a Viscount until after Jutland. The battle ended on June 1st, 1916, and the house party where we meet Tony is set in April 1922, where is already Viscount Gillingham. He married Mabel Lane Fox in December 1924. Biography |-|Series 4= 1922 He knew Mary from childhood. He appears at a party thrown by the Crawley family "to help lift Lady Mary's spirit" which is the first time Mary has seen him since they were young. Robert calls him a "pirate" but Cora reminds him who Anthony is, and who his father was. His renewed relationship with Mary makes him start to wonder whether he may have given up on life too soon. S4 Press Pack. He also has not fully come to terms with his father's death, and bonds with Mary though their shared grief. He attempts to assist Mary in running the estate. He also accompanies her and her relatives to the Lotus Jazz Club in London, where they dance. But then he secretly follows the family back to Downton on the same train (he rides in third class so they don't see him). Tony proposes to Mary. Mary eventually turns him down because she is still not over Matthew's death. Tony agrees to leave, but not before requesting a kiss from Mary, saying he loves her. He stays one night and then leaves. Tony later becomes engaged to the Hon. Mabel Lane Fox, but the engagement is more a relationship of convenience rather than love. Mary refers to Miss Fox as "the greatest heiress of the season." After the engagement is announced in the papers, Mary writes to Tony to congratulate him, when in truth she is feeling regret for not accepting him. Her sister remarks how she was sure Tony was keen on her. Tony later returns to Downton Abbey, reuniting with an old friend from the war, Mary's suitor and Evelyn Napier's boss Charles Blake. After Mary learns from Anna that Tony's valet Alex Green assaulted her, she meets with Tony for luncheon in London and asks him to dismiss Green, saying only that he did something abhorrent. Tony wonders what it was, but professing his love for her he agrees to do so. Then he later tells her, because of the conversation they had, that Green was killed (telling her only what he heard, that he fell into the road and got run over). Eventually Tony decides to break off his engagement, because of his feelings for Mary. Though Mary insists she is still not on the "market", Tony is determined to win her nonetheless. 2013 Christmas Special Tony is still in pursuit of Mary by the summer of 1923, and dances with her at a ball in London. He later tells Mary that his friend and rival for her, Blake, is not an outsider as she thinks but is in fact heir to an estate even greater than his own, although it is a baronetcy, which would make Charles Blake a baronet, two ranks below a viscount (Lord Gillingham's title) in the British peerage. In fact, a baronetcy is the only hereditary honour which is not an actual peerage. As Mary later explains to Blake, she thinks Gillingham wanted it (their rivalry for her) to be a fair fight. |-|Series 5= 1924 Tony still wants Lady Mary to marry him and gives an indecent proposal to her for him and Mary to become lovers, to which Mary agrees, as long as it is kept secret. Tony then booked a hotel room in Liverpool for their tryst which included his room to be adjoined to Mary's hotel room. They then discussed the plan of eating a scrumptious dinner on Church St and making love all night long. However, at the end of their time in Liverpool, they are spotted outside the hotel by Violet's butler Septimus Spratt. After Violet manages to conceal the secret and confront Mary about it, claiming Mary was seduced by Gillingham, Mary begins to question if she has made the right decision. She now feels she and Gillingham do not have a lot in common. Gillingham visits Downton as they host to Russian refugees including Prince Igor Kuragin and Count Nikolai Rostov. However Mary tells Gillingham that she has changed her mind and will not marry him, but Gillingham is not a person who would take no for an answer. Tony appears again at Canningford Grange for the point-to-point. The next day, he is at Downton with Charles Blake and Mabel Lane Fox. Blake, Mabel, and Tony walk in the gardens and Blake tries to convince Tony that Mary does not want to marry him and that he should instead marry Mabel. He then appears at Rose and Atticus' blessing where he and Mabel announces they are engaged and to marry in December in London. Note *His title Gillingham would be pronounced with a hard "G" - not as "Jillingham". *He and Charles Blake served together during the Great War under the command of Admiral of the Fleet John Jellicoe aboard the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Iron_Duke_%281912%29 HMS Iron Duke]. They were at the Battle of Jutland. Appearances External Links #Downton Abbey season 4, episode 3 video: Watch scene with Michelle Dockery, Tom Cullen at Cartermatt References Foyle, Anthony Foyle, Anthony Foyle, Anthony Foyle, Anthony